Om in Rome; Manu Smriti in London Church

By London Swaminathan

As an ardent Hindu and amateur historian, I always looked for some Hindu links or Hindu influence. When I saw Roman and Greek monuments and sculptures, I noticed a lot of Hindu impact on them. The Lion Throne is a common word used in Hindu stories. I saw proper, but huge, Lion thrones in Rome Museum. Hindu Swastika symbol also was visible very much on pots and urns.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pustaka Digital Media
• Release date: Nov 26, 2022
• ISBN: 6580553509262

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Om in Rome; Manu Smriti in London Church

Author:

London Swaminathan

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Table of Contents

FOREWORD

1.Parthenon of Athens and its Hindu Links!

2.Story of Athena and Ganga Devi!

3.My Trip to Santorini Islands in Greece

4.Indian History Wonder in Greece

5.Hindu Rituals in Greece

6.Mysterious Buddha in Sweden!

7.Ideas from New York

8.I saw the Blue Danube River in Vienna

9.What is Vienna Famous for?

10.House of Music (Haus der Musik)

11.My Visit to Royal Palace in Madrid in Spain

12.Yoga without Religion is Dangerous!

13. Hinduism in Different Colour Capsules!

14. Om (Aum) in Rome!

15.OM symbol in Europe (2000 BCE)!

16.London is changing!

17.Buckingham Palace in Numbers

18.Tamil Activities in London

19.Big Indian Bucket on a London Road!

20.Indian Wonder -  Manu Smriti in London Cathedral!

21.DIWALI IN BRITISH PARLIAMENT

22. Diwali in No.10 Downing Street

23.British M.P. visits 7 Hindu Temples on New Year Day!

24.London - Capital of the Tamil Speaking World

25.Hindu Festivals in London!

26.Goddess on the March

27.Roll on the Road and Get rid of Your Sins!

28.LONDON MAHALAKSHMI TEMPLE RATH YATRA

29.Wonderful Chariot Festival in London

30.Hare Krishna Rath Yatra, 17th July 2016

31.Ayurveda Exhibition in London

32.Colombia – Land of Anaconda, Butterflies, Coffee, Drugs and Orchids

33.Singapore is Sanskrit

34.Visit to Nantien Temple: Chinese belief in Astrology

35.Amazing Ganesh Figure in Australian Hills!

36.Are Australian Aborigines Tamil Hindus?

37.Sixty Stories about Ayers Rock!

38.Hindu Symbolism in Paris!

FOREWORD

During my 35 year stay in London, I travelled to different countries including U.S, Australia, France, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Portugal and Vatican City. I have written several articles in my two blogs, but mostly in Tamil. When I saw something novel and thought the idea would be useful then I shared them in English as well. Travelling is fascinating. One learns a lot when one sees everything with his or her own eyes. Moreover, it exposes us to different languages and cultures. As an ardent Hindu and amateur historian, I always looked for some Hindu links or Hindu influence. When I saw Roman and Greek monuments and sculptures, I noticed a lot of Hindu impact on them. The Lion Throne is a common word used in Hindu stories. I saw proper, but huge, Lion thrones in Rome Museum. Hindu Swastika symbol also was visible very much on pots and urns.

Apart from this, Christian paintings of Jesus Christ showed several Hindu customs followed by earlier Christians. They greeted him with folded hands, similar to Namaste of Hindus, they fell at the feet of Jesus imitating Hindu Namaskaram. Jesus himself did Pada Puja for his disciple which Hindus do for their saints. In Australia, one hill looked like Lord Ganesh. Several aboriginal words and customs reminded me of the Tamils. Last but not the least I have added important and useful tips for tourists visiting London. Hope you would enjoy the travel as much as I liked. I have given the dates and serial numbers of articles as they appeared in my blogs.

London swaminathan

November 2022

1.Parthenon of Athens and its Hindu Links!

I went to Athens on 27th of July and spent almost a full day visiting Acropolis, Parthenon and the Acropolis museum. An approved tourist guide approached us ( a group of 11 people) and explained everything in two hours for the price of 100 Euros. This is in addition to the ticket price of 30 Euros per head. As a history student, first I objected to hiring her, the tourist guide. But after listening to he, I said I was happy. she gave the whole history of Greece in two hours. Above all, looking at us she asked whether we were from India. We said that we were of Indian origin, but at the moment coming from London, Sydney and New Zealand. The reason she asked us about our origin was that she compared the Goddess River Ganges (ganga devi) with the Goddess Athena. The comparison does not stop there. I will explain it one by one in my article today.

Athens was named after the goddess Athena Parthinos. Naming a city after a goddess is typical Hindu custom. We have the famous Mumbai, Kolkata, Madurai, Kanyakumari and hundreds of towns in India named after Hindu goddesses. Athena Parthenos means Virgin Goddess, i.e. Kanya Kumari.

Raghuvamsa of Kalidasa, Ramayana of Valmiki and Silappadikaram and Manimegalai, the Tamil epics – all these talk about the goddesses of the towns such Lanka Devi, Mathura Devi, Manimeghala and Goddess of Ayodhya etc.

The tourist guide beautifully explained how the Christians and Muslims systematically destroyed the building Parthenon and the wonderful Athena statue inside the Parthenon temple. They converted the building as a church and then a mosque and then arms depot. at one time they torpedoed the statue like Muslim terrorists who bombed the tallest Buddha statue in the Bhamiyan cave of Afghanistan. The Greek tourist guide angrily accused the British for plundering the marbles in the Parthenon temple and placed them in the British Museum in London as Elgin marbles. She blamed that Elgin stole them and why did they call Elgin marbles. She rightly told that it should be called Parthennon marbles or Phydias marbles and should be returned to Greece. Immediately I remembered the British looting of Kohinoor and the Queen Victoria looting Sapphire of Madurai Goddess Meenakshi.

Now let us look at the structure of Parthenon:

Parthenon was the temple of Athena Parthinos (the Virgin). It was built on top of Acropolis in Athens. Phydia, s the sculptor supervised it and the architects Callicractes and Ictinus built it. It had a beautiful statue of Goddess Athena, made up of gold and ivory. It was a tall statue. The rectangular building is the best specimen of Doric style. It has 8 pillars or columns on one side and 13 columns lengthwise. It is called golden ratio.

The tourist guide added some information which I did not find in the encyclopaedias. Proportionately the Parthenon structure is similar to A 4 size paper. So it is a perfect size. Since it is not on a flat surface the lines drawn from the columns will meet at five kilometres above the Parthenon and it will form a pyramid.

It was built between 447 and 438 BCE. But people believe that there was another building before that.

Parthinogensis means birth without a male’s participation. That is virgin birth. We have Draupadi, Sita, Andal, Five Pandava brothers and several others in this category.

I will compare the birth of Athena and the Ganga in the second part. The story of birth of Athena is a symbolic story like the symbolism we find in the Rig Veda and the Brahmanas. It symbolises the dawn of wisdom. I will also explain how Christians and Muslims destroyed the temple. It is also a repeat of what they did in India and Sri Lanka. The Muslim terrorists who destroyed Bhamiyan Buddha and Syrian Palmyra just imitated the Christians and Muslims of Europe. They were the roll models for these terrorists. The full history of destruction is in Wikipedia and other encyclopaedias. I will just tell you what the tourist guide told us.

2.Story of Athena and Ganga Devi!

The story of Athena, the Greek Goddess, is a symbolic one. We have such symbolism in the Vedic literature. Athena personifies wisdom, like Goddess Sarasvati. She was a virgin and is the protective genius of the City nation.

Our tourist guide in Athens compared Ganga’s (Ganges) descending from heaven and Shiva holding her in his head and Ganga emerging from his head

The myth of the birth of Athena illustrates the compromises necessary in the progression of thought. Greek god Zeus and the Titan Metis (cunning intelligence) were her parents. A prophesy had claimed that Metis would bear a goddess equal to Zeus in wisdom, so the god devoured his wife in an attempt to prevent the birth. But one day Zeus had a raging headache and asked the craftsman god Hephaistos to split his head open with an axe. Hephaistos did so and Athene emerged, fully formed and armed, from her father’s head. True to the prophesy, Athene rivalled Zeus in wisdom and was symbolised by owl. Owl is considered wisest of all the birds.

This is similar to Lakshmi emerging from ocean after the churning of ocean. Lakshmi also has owl as her vehicle. Owl is derived from the Sanskrit word Uluka. Owl’s name is a suffix for poets and saints in Tamil and Sanskrit (Aanthai in Tamil, Kausika in Sanskrit).

This is to show that wisdom dawns upon in someone. We have such symbolic stories in Vedic literature.

When there was a referendum to select the representative Athens, Athene gave them the gift of Olive tree. Olive branch stands for pece. So the Athenians preferred her. This shows that